cannabisnews.com: The 'Potent Pot' Myth





The 'Potent Pot' Myth
Posted by CN Staff on August 01, 2004 at 13:09:30 PT
By Bruce Mirken and Mitch Earleywine, AlterNet
Source: AlterNet
Repeated claims that newer types of marijuana are far more dangerous than pot of the past create more harm than good. Recently, the media have repeated dire warnings about alleged "super pot." In an attempt to frighten parents who may have dabbled in their day, our government claims that new strains of potent marijuana are far more dangerous than the innocuous grass of the 1960s or '70s.Many media reports repeat these claims uncritically. For example, a July 19 Reuters story warned, "Pot is no longer the gentle weed of the 1960s and may pose a greater threat than cocaine or even heroin."
Such claims are utter nonsense, and may create more harm than good.First, high-potency marijuana has always existed. The average potency has increased slightly, but only because higher-potency marijuana has become a little more common. It is not a new phenomenon.Second, there is precisely zero evidence that marijuana with a higher level of THC – the component that produces the "high" – is more dangerous. Indeed, a close look at the news accounts shows that claims of greater danger are based on speculation piled on top of conjecture.To put this in perspective, the average potency of marijuana that has fueled this fire is seven percent THC. This is the marijuana that White House Drug Czar John Walters warns is horribly dangerous because of its super-strength. In contrast, Dutch government standards require medical marijuana sold in pharmacies in the Netherlands to be more than twice that strong. So a country where teens are actually less likely to use cocaine and heroin than in the U.S. wouldn't even use our marijuana to heal their sick. A recent report from the European Union noted that "a slight upward trend" in potency means little because the potency of U.S. marijuana "was very low by European standards."Third, unlike the speculative claims of increased danger, peer-reviewed scientific data show that higher potency marijuana reduces health risks. Just as with alcohol, people who smoke marijuana generally consume until they reach the desired effect, then stop. So people who smoke more potent marijuana smoke less – the same way most drinkers consume a smaller amount of vodka than they would of beer – and incur less chance of smoking-related damage to their lungs.Official warnings about "super pot" often accompany claims that huge numbers of teens are in treatment for marijuana "dependence and abuse," and that those numbers have risen dramatically. Such claims are utterly misleading. According to the U.S. government's own statistics, most teens in marijuana treatment are there because they were arrested, not because of actual evidence of abuse or dependence. Virtually all of the vaunted increase in marijuana treatment admissions stems from these arrests.So, we arrest kids for smoking marijuana, force them into treatment and then use those treatment admissions as "proof" that marijuana is addictive. Somewhere, George Orwell is smiling.This wave of marijuana treatment has nothing to do with actual dependence. According to the latest government report on drug treatment, called the Treatment Episode Data Set, more than a third of these marijuana "abusers" did not use marijuana at all in the month prior to admission. Another 16.1 percent used it three times or less.So more than half of marijuana "abusers" used marijuana three times or less in the month prior to entering treatment – and this, we are told, is proof that we must be fearful of highly addictive "super pot"!There is a real story here, but it's not about the dire effects of potent marijuana. The real story is the misuse of science by government officials seeking to justify current policies and hold onto their jobs. The administration's misuse of science in this area is, if anything, more blatant than in fields that have generated far more controversy, such as reproductive health.And with the administration now talking openly about shifting prevention and law enforcement resources toward marijuana and away from drugs like heroin and cocaine, which actually kill, this dishonesty is putting America's young people at risk. Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D., is associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California and author of "Understanding Marijuana" (Oxford University Press, 2002); Bruce Mirken is communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C. Source: AlterNet (US)Author: Bruce Mirken and Mitch Earleywine, AlterNetPublished: July 30, 2004Copyright: 2004 Independent Media InstituteContact: letters alternet.org Website: http://www.alternet.org/DL: http://alternet.org/drugreporter/19416/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Bush Targets Marijuana Smokers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19229.shtmlU.S. Drug Czar Warns of Potent Pot Herehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19209.shtmlAs Pot Gets Stronger, US Officials Change Policyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19203.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by b4daylight on August 02, 2004 at 00:57:12 PT
Your Fired
"And with the administration now talking openly about shifting prevention and law enforcement resources toward marijuana and away from drugs like heroin and cocaine, which actually kill, this dishonesty is putting America's young people at risk."This is the same man who gave the Taliban $40,000,000.00 dollars 6 month before the (-11.
He did it in the name of Drug War Reward. Due to the low production of Poppies. Imagine that!
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Comment #8 posted by BGreen on August 01, 2004 at 20:58:35 PT
The Majority Of Doctors Have Remained Silent
while the government has hijacked control of the medical profession from right under their noses.This administration, through its enforcer john ashcroft, has called some doctors "terrorists" because of their prescribing habits.I didn't hear much from the AMA about this slander.There isn't a legitimate doctor alive that would agree that cannabis is more dangerous than cocaine or heroin. This might just be the "nail in the coffin" lie for cannabis prohibition.One Reverend Bud is sure hoping so.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #7 posted by rchandar on August 01, 2004 at 20:35:39 PT:
cocaine and heroin
"may be more harmful than cocaine or heroin".I mean, COME ON, how ridiculous!! Cocaine and heroin are physically addictive, include tremendous physical withdrawal, cause heart attacks, liver and stomach cancer, brain damage, and are strongly addictive. Even if strong, the most pot can do is make you paranoid or aggravate already existing schizophrenia. More harmful? There's just no evidence. Just tell this to a heroin junkie; he'll get all hopeful because heroin isn't being attacked, maybe think it's ok to shoot it.I don't think so.
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Comment #6 posted by mayan on August 01, 2004 at 19:34:42 PT
More Myths Debunked
Third, unlike the speculative claims of increased danger, peer-reviewed scientific data show that higher potency marijuana reduces health risks.That's what we've been saying here all along. According to the U.S. government's own statistics, most teens in marijuana treatment are there because they were arrested, not because of actual evidence of abuse or dependence.Johnny Pee is scum. When will the mainstream media call him on his lies? 
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Comment #5 posted by rchandar on August 01, 2004 at 16:31:42 PT:
virgil
...and politicians are gutless bastards who can't admit their policies have failed and don't work. simple.--rchandar
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Comment #4 posted by Virgil on August 01, 2004 at 16:00:40 PT
Bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit
Cannabis never killed anyone and if you want to die tonight a fifth of Bacardi 151 might help you out. We know the government is perpetuating a fraud and somehow implies that a small harm deserves prison, confiscation, and a police state even though use brings benefit.Then there is this from http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread19255.shtmlBefore being made illegal in 1937, it was the basis of more than 50 percent of the medicines on earth. It is the safest, most therapeutic substance known to man and indicated for use in the treatment of cancer, nausea (especially as a result of chemotherapy or radiation therapy), migraine headaches, glaucoma, menstrual cramps, childbirth, muscle spasms, Tourette's syndrome, asthma and emphysema.It is all a fraud and the criminals are in the government and not at the end of a joint.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on August 01, 2004 at 15:47:32 PT
The table of the Lord is not defiled.
I think that's Malachi 1:6-14 subtitled "Sin of the Priest".The good stuff.Choice is King. -Maurice
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Comment #2 posted by global_warming on August 01, 2004 at 15:00:03 PT
Right On :unkat27
"So, we arrest kids for smoking marijuana, force them into treatment and then use those treatment admissions as "proof" that marijuana is addictive. Somewhere, George Orwell is smiling."The dogs are hungry, and this new form of indoctinuration fits nicely amongst the many, who would ever imagine that the "new" boot camps are exploiting and recruiting new members, the mills grind slowly, and when the dawn arrives, these savage and greedy bastards from hell, will taste the fruits of their labors.Remember, Jesus was a guest at a mixed wedding , where he made wine from water, his death, has haunted rational human beings for 2004 years, and his death, with each nail, we, as successors of humanity must relive, as we quietly hide in our little shelters, the rains of darkness slowly engulf our world.We must banish darkness, we must defeat ignorance, we must isolate the dividers who confuse and seperate our world.-gw
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Comment #1 posted by unkat27 on August 01, 2004 at 13:27:03 PT
Beware Laced Govt. MJ
I'd like to point out another reason why some of the marijuana circulating might be extra potent and have bad side-effects, just in case anyone gets a little too high and doesn't know what to make of it. Granted, most veterans of cannabis experimentation can handle the extra potent stuff, but the real problem is when young kids don't know when to put the stuff down. While that is a learning experience that many young people pass, we don't like it when some of these kids get too high and get the wrong idea, then jump the fence and kiss the fascist big bros and turn informer. So I'd just like to point out that the feds have been known to redistribute confiscated cannabis, after they laced it with bad chems, with the aim of making cannabis look more dangerous than it really is. Beware of govt laced mj. If in doubt, put it under the microscope in the lab, test it. We really cannot trust the feds, they'll treat mj with poison and kill kids with it, just to make it look much worse than it is. It has been done and they'll do it again if they think they're losing the war (and they are).
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